Dawn Morris Sells 740 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Dawn Morris sold 740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.90, for a total value of $22,866.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $295,033.20. The trade was a 7.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $30.76 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $22.93 and a 1-year high of $31.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.39 and a 200-day moving average of $27.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.94.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 35.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FFBC. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stephens began coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFBC. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 55.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 34,676 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 589,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,733,000 after purchasing an additional 22,227 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 571.4% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 6,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 318,298 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,951,000 after purchasing an additional 17,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

About First Financial Bancorp.

First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the parent of First Financial Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking services through a network of more than 100 full-service banking centers and mortgage offices across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Its core mission centers on delivering personalized relationship banking to businesses, individuals and public sector clients.

First Financial Bank’s product portfolio includes deposit solutions such as checking, savings and money market accounts, alongside a range of lending offerings that cover commercial and industrial loans, real estate and construction financing, home mortgages and home equity lines of credit.